Four Flight Attendants Plead Guilty To Smuggling Drug Money To The Dominican Republic

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that four flight attendants charged in connection with smuggling drug money to the Dominican Republic have pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmission business.  SARAH VALERIO PUJOLS pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald on July 23, 2024; CHARLIE HERNANDEZ pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams on July 25, 2024; EMMANUEL TORRES pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave on August 12, 2024; and JAROL FABIO pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian on August 13, 2024.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “These four flight attendants abused their privileges as flight attendants to move money for drug traffickers.  My Office is committed to staunching the illicit flow of narcotics proceeds in all of its forms.  These guilty pleas show that the sky is not the limit when it comes to law enforcement’s reach.”

According to the allegations in the Complaints, the Informations, court filings, and statements made in Court:

During the relevant period, all of the defendants were employed as flight attendants with different international airlines that operated routes between New York City and the Dominican Republic.  All of the defendants had “Known Crewmember” (“KCM”) status with the Transportation Security Administration, which allowed them to pass through a special security lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport and other airports with less scrutiny than normal passengers.

Before or in about October 2021, a cooperating witness (“CW-1”) operated a significant money laundering organization (“MLO”) in New York City, specializing in the movement of cash proceeds from narcotics sales from New York City to the Dominican Republic.  One method that CW-1 used in furtherance of their MLO was corrupting flight attendants, like the defendants, who worked routes between New York City and the Dominican Republic.  In exchange for a fee – which generally amounted to a small percentage of the amount of money that they would be smuggling – the defendants accepted bulk cash from CW-1 in New York City, got it past airport security via the KCM lane, and passed it off to other members of CW-1’s MLO in the Dominican Republic, including another cooperating witness (“CW-2”).  After CW-1 and CW-2 began cooperating with law enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) and the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) orchestrated a number of sting operations in which CW-1 provided law enforcement funds represented to be narcotics proceeds to the defendants, who then smuggled it down to the Dominican Republic and handed it off to CW-2, who returned the funds to law enforcement.

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PUJOLS, 42, of the Bronx, New York; HERNANDEZ, 42, of West New York, New Jersey; EMMANUEL TORRES, 34, of Brooklyn, New York; and JAROL FABIO, 35, of New York, New York, each respectively pled guilty to one count of operation of an unlicensed money transmission business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  PUJOLS will be sentenced by Judge Buchwald on November 14, 2024; HERNANDEZ will be sentenced by Judge Abrams on November 15, 2024; TORRES will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon on January 6, 2025; and FABIO will be sentenced by Judge Subramanian on November 15, 2024.  As part of their guilty pleas, PUJOLS, HERNANDEZ, TORRES, and FABIO each agreed to forfeit property involved in their commission of the offense.

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Williams praised the investigative work of HSI and the NYPD.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin A. Gianforti and Jaclyn Delligatti are in charge of the prosecution.